B. ATTITUDES

Examples of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

1. "I'm a really bad student so there's no point in studying" >> then you get a bad grade because of your belief about yourself which leads you to not study...making your perception of the situation true 2. Politicians never do what my group wants, so I never vote 3. Girls aren't interested in me, so I don't see why I should care about hygiene

Behavior CHANGES Attitude

1. Rationalizing 2. Raking on a role 3. Habitual influences 4. Saying and doing is believing

How can you change attitudes?

1. Take the perspective of the other side >Make a person take/seriously think about the other side 2. Listen to explanations for the counter arguments >Actually LISTEN to what the other side is saying (instead of trying to form a counter argument right away as they are still speaking) 3. Imagine if the other side were true >You can understand the other side better if you have personal experience with it (ex. knowing somebody in a minority/with a disability) because then the other side isn't just a "scary, unknown other" Essentially, have them consider alternative viewpoints seriously

Cognitive dissonance appears when...

1. When you do something inconsistent with your previous beliefs or attitudes -you think a certain way about something and your behavior is inconsistent with that belief = 2 different cognitions > rationalization **you can't change behavior that already happened but you can change your beliefs...** ex: you kiss a random guy, now you think you like them...this is you rationalizing your behavior because otherwise you would be a persona who just randomly kisses people 2. When justification for behaviors is insufficient to the individual, they internally rationalize behaviors -"If I choose to do something it must be because that's how I really feel" 3. We want to understand ourselves -Self-perception theory

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment You think something, and because you think that way and have that attitude, it changes your behaviors and makes your initial attitude actually true **your attitude is predicting behavior and in turn your behavior is retroactively making your attitude true** **you think something so you act in alignment with that belief and then you actions make that belief true**

Taking on a Role

A role is a set of norm assigned to a certain position, so when you have to take that role you change your behavior which can change your attitudes ex: Becoming a parent - You are taking on a new role and by doing that and engaging in those behaviors, it changes your attitude. Before becoming a parent you thought you wouldn't mind your kids drinking in college, but now as a parent you changed your mind

Confirmation Bias

A tendency to search for information that is in line with your attitudes ex: news outlets we watch [political preference], our friends/significant others tend to have similar views as us >kind of like selective hearing??

Behavioral Confirmation

A type of self-fulfilling prophecy in which expectations of others lead them to conform to those expectations >The way you act towards others and your expectations of them makes them conform to that and confirm your belief ex: treat somebody like they are attractive, then they become and act more confident & laugh more, then you believe they really are attractive (attitude changes behavior)

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

An assessment of your implicit attitudes

When are EXPLICIT ATTITUDES more likely to predict behavior?

Attitudes are: 1. Specific 2. Potent

Theory of Planned Behavior MODEL

Attitudes, norms, and controls PREDICT behavioral intentions PREDICT behavior

Implicit Attitudes

Automatic, unconscious attitudes; sometimes you don't even realize you have them ex: you see someone at a party and are avoiding them; you don't realize it but this might be because they look like somebody you got into a fight with a couple years ago **ATTITUDES AT AN UNCONSCIOUS LEVEL, INVOLUNTARILY FORMED, TYPICALLY UNKNOWN TO US**

Norms (Theory of Planned Behavior)

Based on what other people do >"All my friends are doing it" >"ALL OF MY FRIENDS recycle"

Specific Attitudes

Being specific (and asking specific questions) leads people to be more specific in their answers, thoughts, and behaviors You want to know if people on campus are going to recycle their soda cans. Asking a vague question like "How do you feel about being green?" is NOT as predictive as asking a specific question like "how do you feel about recycling cans?" or "do you intend to recycle cans this week? **more general statements are less predictive of behavior**

Why are our implicit attitudes hard to change?

Belief perseverance

How are our attitudes maintained?

Confirmation bias

Explicit Attitudes

Expressed, conscious attitudes; it is your conscious opinion that you act in alignment with/express ex: you meet somebody at a party who is wearing an eagles jersey (your favorite football team); you decide you like this person and could get along with them so you start a conversation **ATTITUDES THAT ARE AT THE CONSCIOUS LEVEL, DELIBERATELY FORMED, EASY TO SELF REPORT**

Attitudes (Theory of Planned Behavior)

How you think/feel about something >If you think something is important that will effect your actions >"I THINK recycling is important"

Attitudes PREDICT behavior

Implicit and explicit attitudes differ in predictability; often IMPLICIT ATTITUDES are a BETTER PREDICTOR of our behavior (you may lie about an explicit attitude) Explicit attitudes can be influenced by social desirability

Theory of Planned Behavior

Links beliefs to behavior (explicit att.) 1. Attitudes 2. Norms 3. Control influence **those three things give you the intention to do the behavior; intentions influence behavior**

Social Desirability

Motivation to appear in accordance with acceptable societal norms >Due to SD you have to be careful in the way you ask/measure to get true answers and real data; be specific and not vague/general (because they might say they feel a certain way about something when they don't) ex: might say they would save someone in shark infested water because the norm is to say yes, but rather look at their inner feelings

Examples of social desirability

Q: Do you ever have racist thoughts? >Situation 1 - fill out racial bias scale >Situation 2 - IAT Q: Do you ever find yourself attracted to the same sex? >Situation 1 - questionnaire >Situation 2 - physiological responses >>First situations produce answers influenced by SD--you want to be in line with the social norms so you say what you think is the norm. >>Second situations are testing physiological and unconscious behaviors which will produce actual attitudes, not influenced by SD

Example of TPB on changing a behavior

Scenario: Bikers don't watch out for people walking, so they need to start using bike lanes. Attitude: get them to think the bike lanes are actually good and that it is bad not to use them Norms: other people say they use them and like them Control influence: Bike lanes are everywhere, are easy to access, and aren't crowded

Rationalizing Behaviors

Sometimes we DO first (behaviors), then come up with WHY we did it (attitudes) >>why behaviors BECOME beliefs/attitudes

Potent Attitudes

Strongly held beliefs (values, religion) Induced potency (being reminded of something you said in the past...people want to be consistent) Induced potency by being self aware - you see yourself saying the words, remember yourself saying something, etc

Belief Perseverance

Tendency to stick with initial conceptions/interpretations (first impressions tend to stick) >beliefs tend to not be wavered by others' opinions >strongly held beliefs are hard to shake and you stick with them ex: hearing opposing political argument, conspiracy theories

Cognitive Dissonance

Tension that arises when we are aware of two different cognitions

Control Influence (Theory of Planned Behavior)

There is something either blocking or facilitating that behavior >Accessibility, convenience >"The recycling center is EASY TO GET TO"

Saying & Doing is Believing

What we say and do can become what we believe; [we do something in the moment and then rationalize it] (especially when behavior is out of character) ex: being at a football game and chanting with people about UMD being the best, you get a feeling of superiority and think "yeah my school really is the best" ex2: kissing someone on a whim and going home thinking that you like the person

Dissonance vs. Self-Perception

When attitudes come into conflict with actions, dissonance occurs (you think you are nice, then do something mean so you rationalize that you are a mean person) When attitudes are being initially formed, self perception is involved in that your behaviors will effect your attitude

Self-Perception Theory

When we are unsure about our attitudes or what we think about something, we infer them from our behaviors (as if we were someone else observing ourselves...from somebody else's perspective) >Look at your behavior and reflect, and coming to a conclusion on your attitude based on what you see in those behaviors >Using your behavior to figure out how you feel about something >What would somebody else think about me? ex: I just yelled at my girlfriend so I must be angry at her

Habitual Influences

ex: foot-in-the-door phenomenon: after first agreeing with a small request, we're more likely to agree with a big one; saying yes to something small & thinking "oh, this isn't that bad" >>lotion at the mall and end up spending $40